Three Different Pieces

Here are a just a few key issue areas now in the news: what to do about North Korea; do wealthy public servants matter for the common good of the citizenry; and the pending SCOTUS Fight [confirming the nomination of the next appointment to the Supreme Court Of The United States]. Do these three topics matter to us? If no, why so? If yes, why are they important?

Why they don’t matter, let us take a peek at that and try it on for size.

North Korea doesn’t matter to the US citizen because no matter what we have done nationally for generations hasn’t worked. This is not an American issue. It is a world community issue. Korea is a thorn in the side of most nations in its own region, and that upsets the apple cart in the United Nations and all such partners. It is their issue to manage, not the USA’s. China, Russia and Japan are the key players in this drama. Let them propose solutions. And then let us all cooperate with managing the solution. I suggest a strong role for the UN.

Wealthy public servants don’t matter. Why would it matter to me that wealthy people volunteer to perform government service? As long as their fingers and hands are not in the conflict of interest machinery, we should accept their contributions of service and move on to accomplishing the work to be done. Ethics and oversight are needed to maintain honesty. That’s it.

SCOTUS confirmation is a continuation of the nasty partisan politics infecting Washington DC for the past 30 years. It is an embarrassment but the system has not stopped functioning. Let it continue. If it is a disaster forming, it will fall of its own weight. Confirm Gorsuch and be done with the issue for now. Let’s get back to work.

Now, that’s one side of the discussion. What is the other?

Yes, they are all important to the average citizen. And they are all in the interest of the common good of the American people. Here’s why:

North Korea: this nation has a deplorable human rights history and record. Her own people are dying from starvation and poor healthcare. The government elite are wealthy and privileged. They live well while the people live in poverty and misery. The elite do not have great lives, though; if they make a mistake or cross their boss, they are likely to be executed and/or publicly shamed.

For many years North Korea has received the benefits of the world’s charity: healthcare, education, financial assistance, food and technology. As their public policy worked to the disadvantage of the world community, sanctions were imposed on North Korea. Although these hurt the nation, the elite continued unaffected while the common citizen sank farther into the morass of poverty and early death. Nothing the global village has done with and for North Korea has worked. They continue to get away with thumbing their noses at the rest of us and we are powerless to do anything about it. Well, not exactly.

The world community could assign the UN the role of managing the country. But first China, Russia and Japan will need to disarm the country and control the military. The UN would be tasked with reordering healthcare, food distribution, nutrition and education throughout the nation. In time some form of democratic selection of North Korean leadership and governance would be put in place with the full cooperation of the native population. This process will take years to accomplish but the war machine of the past needs to be removed and destroyed. America should have no role in this process other than its supporting function in the UN. It is a task for the global community to manage.

Wealthy Public Servants is an oxymoron. I have nothing against wealth or wealthy people. I do have a problem when such are in control of our government and dictating what is good for themselves but not in the common interest of the citizenry. And I automatically believe they will self-serve. Think back on Nelson Rockefeller and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They were wealthy men from wealthy families. They accomplished good things for the nation, not for themselves. We had ethics rules and policies in effect then and they were taken seriously. Not so today. The oversight committees in Congress are in political cahoots with the wealthy elites in both Congress and the White House. The foxes are in the hen house and up to no good.

The ideological skirmish we have been dancing around for several decades is Big versus Small government. It is in the interest of the wealthy to have small government. They have fewer regulations to contend with and limit their grab to even more wealth; plus they pay lower taxes. Shameful excess for them; increasing threat to the common good for everyone else.

I don’t care if wealthy people volunteer to be a public servant; I do care if they misrepresent the people to serve their own ends. If ethics and oversight machinery are effective, let them serve; if the machinery is ineffective, fix it immediately.

SCOTUS confirmation is of critical importance. The ideological balance or imbalance of the court is at stake. We currently have a court that believes corporation are people. Ludicrous. Such should be corrected. Justice is supposed to be blind. Ideologues are not blind, they just have poor vision. And that infects the quality of justice. Merrick Garland’s nomination should be adopted by the Senate and he should be confirmed. Mr. Gorsuch’s nomination should be vacated. The role of politics should be lessened as much as possible in the justice nomination and confirmation process. How this is to be done I leave to those folks who have law, due process of law, and justice in their blood to figure out. The travesty shaping up in the last 12 months is a national embarrassment. The history books of tomorrow will have a field day with this absurdity.

April 4, 2017